STOP PRESS!

Wednesday June 6th: Chilcot report

After a seven-year wait the Chilcot Report is finally going to be published on July 6th. Despite its astounding length (2.3 million words) it is highly likely that it will fall short of an outright condemnation of the Iraq war and fail to apportion blame to those who were truly responsible for the catastrophe. o ignored

Protest as the report is released: 6 – 7pm at the east end of Princes Street close to Register House and opposite the Balmoral Hotel

 

Thanks to everyone who helped with and supported the successful Benefit on the 21st.                           We still have copies of Edinburgh poet Allan Crosbie collection of poems ‘Outswimming the Eruption’ sold in connection with the benefit. You can order it from edinburghcnd@yahoo.com for £8.50. Until 4th Julyall proceeds will go to Edinburgh CND.

Our next meeting is on Monday 4th July at ACE.    The following week-end July 8th we will be out leafleting.

Other events:

1. Don’t forget : Trident Ploughshare month of action is still in progress. Details can be found at tinyurl.com/BurghfieldAction It runs until 30th June

2. SCND have arranged to have a stall at the Great Scottish Walk and Run in the car park near Holyrood House on Sunday 26 June, when Big Sandy is taking part in the 10 k walk. The stall will be set up at 9 am. The runs start at 0930 and the walks at 1130. There are other events in the early afternoon. (NB minutes of last executive are available) Other SCND stalls:
Kelburn Garden Festival (Largs), 3 – 4 July
T in the Park (Strathallan), 7 – 11 July
Belladrum Festival (Inverness), 3 -7 August

3. The next Don’t bank on the Bomb meeting will be Wednesday 29th June at 1:30pm at the Peace and Justice Centre in Edinburgh.

4. The next meeting of the Scottish Peace Network will be held on Tuesday, June 28, at 2pm at the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre. They will be discussing the upcoming event to remember the battle of the Somme (including 1st July at 5pm at the Dewar’s statue on Buchanan Street in Glasgow city centre) and future plans as well as assessing the counter protest at the armed forces day show in Stirling.

Other News:

A new Peace and Justice Newsletter is available: Peace and Justice – Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre

Government won’t answer Trident questions – facts would shock even own MPs Responding to shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry’s speech at the Royal United Services Institute, CND’s Kate Hudson said: “These are precisely the questions the government needs to answer, and we congratulate the shadow defence secretary for asking them. It seems it’s a deliberate strategy for the government to avoid giving honest answers about Trident. They know that if more people knew the facts about Trident many, including Conservative MPs, would be outraged.

“Our research shows that it will cost at least £205 billion to replace Trident, a particularly staggering figure when we consider the enormous cuts being made elsewhere in the public sector; it’s out of date technology, and far from addressing the real security threats we face from terrorism, global pandemics, cyber warfare and climate change, it actually makes us a target.”

Some Brilliant news form London: the Stop Trident lobby on July 13th is set to be our biggest lobby of parliament yet. But it will be the last chance we’re likely to have to meet MPs in big numbers before they vote on Trident. So we need your help to step up the work now.
The more MPs we can reach, the closer we’ll get to halting plans to replace Trident.

For information on CND conference: http://www.cnduk.org/about/cnd-conference/item/1647-conference-registration-pageNB nominations for officers to be received by 1st July

Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, gave testimony to the People’s Chilcot Tribunal alongside the former UN envoy to Iraq, Hans von Sponeck; British soldiers who served in the war; relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq; as well as journalists and leading figures in the anti-war movement.

Round the World:

Albuquerque — 21 June , a panoply of nuclear officials and generals convened in Albuquerque to discuss and promote US nuclear weapons plans and New Mexico’s role in them. The meeting has been organized by the “Strategic Deterrent Coalition” (SDC) and is being funded by Northrup Grumman, Boeing, Orbital ATK, BAE Systems, and others — and directly by the Air Force, through the time of its officers and airmen if not also in other ways. Support is being mustered for an amendment offered by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) to the Defense Appropriations Bill, which would strip $76 million from the Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) missile — a proposed new, stealthy nuclear cruise missile that is probably the single worst new nuclear weapon in President Obama’s outrageous trillion-dollar nuclear weapons investment package.

Australia: After and epic week adventure in the Karlamilyi National park with Martu elders and people from across the country.Martu people to march 140km in protest against Pilbara uranium mine
The Martu people from Indigenous communities in WA’s Pilbara region are setting off on a week-long March to protest against a proposed uranium mine.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-04/martu-people-in-the-pilbara-protest-a-uranium-mine/7476440